BOISE, Idaho — Now that Idaho has entered Stage One of the state's coronavirus reopening plan, more people are getting out to go to work, do some shopping or have fun outdoors.
The City of Boise is also in the first step of reopening, which Mayor Lauren McLean described as a "very limited" opening.
In Boise, the parks are open, retail businesses are opening back up, Warm Springs Golf Course has partially re-opened, and the city is ramping up recycling services as well as maintenance at facilities and parks. But public events remain banned, and City Hall is still closed to the public as staff mostly work from home.
McLean told KTVB that her goal - like that of Gov. Brad Little -is to make sure Idahoans can safely return to work.
"We've done all we could and have seen great success in ensuring that there wasn't a surge of the virus that the hospitals couldn't meet the demand of, and so now it's time to slowly reopen our community and get our residents back to work," she said. "We're in the same stage and we'll look at the same data the governor is looking at in assessing when to move to Stage 2 and then to Stage 3. We have specifics related to how City Hall and city government services open, and then also require in Stage 1 social distancing measures and have some specific rules about the airport, who can be in and out of the airport as people start traveling again to make sure that we can keep the spread of the virus slow, so we can get as many people back to work as quickly as possible."
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Unlike the state plan, Boise does not have set dates of when the city is projected to move to the next stage of reopening. McLean said officials will look at coronavirus data to determine when it is safe to make that next step.
The mayor has issued a public health order that mandates social distancing through the end of May.
McLean acknowledged that Little's plan would allow restaurants, salons, and other businesses to reopen May 16 if there is not a second spike of infections.
"We will look at the data at the same time and if it tells us that we should move to Phase Two, we'll look at our social distancing order and determine the steps that need to be taken to allow businesses to open in Phase Two in a safe way to protect the public health," McLean said. "What we want to do is allow all businesses to open and people to get back to work, and not have to take that away if we inadvertently create a virus spike here in the Valley."
You can watch the full interview with Mayor McLean and Doug Petcash on Viewpoint this Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 6:30 a.m. and 11 p.m.
At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.
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